Lotus

October 9, 2007

As if the metronomic ambiance of “Airportman” was not enough to signal Up as a departure from anything the listener might have previously associated with R.E.M.’s sound, the ersatz R&B number “Lotus” drops in immediately afterwards to further mess with the audience’s preconceptions. The arrangement is like a checklist of odd textural elements — perky carnival organ, discordant strings, psychedelic guitar, odd vocal effects that warp Michael Stipe’s voice into something rather ghoulish — but it all somehow falls in place around one of the best grooves of the band’s career. The song is playful yet twisted; the sound of a man self-consciously flailing about in a manic stage between bouts of depression, and making an exhibitionistic show of his attempts to self-medicate.

More than any other track on the album, “Lotus” has a sound that practically screams “I was written and recorded in the late ’90.” It aims for lushness but seems inadvertently chilly and brittle, much like most of Jon Brion’s work from the era, particularly with Fiona Apple. Sure, “Lotus” is a bit more perverse and unusual, but even the arrangement’s most counter-intuitive decisions seem very much of its time, and dependent upon the technology of that particular moment.

Advertisements

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

82 Responses to “Lotus”

Nice points, Matthew. I can’t decide if I like this song or not. I sort of see at as a necessary part of entering UP but it’s not on a par with Hope or later tracks… this is a good song to be listened to on headphones. The chords in the verse (A, C, G, F if I remember correcly) and the guitar solo are pretty straightforward actually and, in my opinion, somewhat dull but there are lots of nice bleeps and noises low in the mix, especially on the chorus. The remix of this which appears as a b-side off one of the singles from UP is even better I reckon…

I absolutely adore this song, and it was one of the few R.E.M. songs chosen for my very first mix CD (a sort of “alternative dance” cd called Aeroma). I suppose I can see why people wouldn’t like it, but for me it just comes together so perfectly, and it’s catchy as hell.

I like Lotus, but I don’t love it. Upon first hearing “Up” I did think that Airportman and Lotus were a terrific 1-2 punch and they do serve the purpose of making Up seem more experimental and non-REMish than the rest of the CD really is. It gives Up an experimental feel that most of the rest of the CD only hints at rather than embraces. That isn’t a bad thing it just means upon first hearing Up seemed more different from REM’s backcatalogue than it truly was. The lyrics of this song, for me, have always been among REM’s most obscure and difficult (which says a lot considering early REM) – they have a very Tori Amos-esque quality about them. I always felt that musically this song was an extension of Monster that had simply been tweaked more and a more straitforward rock version would have fit in perfectly on Monster. In fact, I have often wondered if Lotus, at least in some form, was possibly written earlier than the Up sessions.

this was very cool on the UP tour… was the opening song of the set (atleast when the tour started) and was great fun live. yeah, maybe ‘over’produced.. but I never buy that.. it was produced exactly how they wanted it produced.. the whole album was kind of of its time true… but more a reaction to radiohead – and the loss of bill.

Cant believe how many of you aren’t that keen on Lotus. It’s fabulous!
The first time I heard it was on the radio before the album was released. This version (which I still have on tape somewhere) was sped up a little, which I didn’t know at the time. So a couple of months later when I bought Up, imagine my surprise when I heard this slower version. I don’t know if the radio station sped it up (JJJ), or if this was another version REM recorded. I always thought the slightly faster one was better, but maybe just because I heard it first.

Great song to sing along to, kinda creepy. Absolutely brilliant!! (I know I say that a lot, but it’s always true!) 🙂

Not a bad song. Quite nice, actually. A little more paint by numbers then much of Up, but fun all the same.
Best Lyrics:
storefront window, I reflect.
just last week I was merely heck
tip the scale. I was hell

One of my favourites on ‘Up’. It seems to groove a bit more than most of the album, and I always enjoy the way Peter Buck’s riff bursts through early in the song.

I have a clear memory of hearing this for the first time. I had just returned home from a year-long stay in Australia where I spent all my meagre earnings on rent, socialising, eating and travel (pretty much in that order). A fact that still shocks me to this day is I never owned a CD player for the whole time. I basically lived a year where I’d only hear music on the radio or in bars. I really missed being able to listen to my favourite albums… or get new ones.

In the middle of this period, ‘Up’ was released (and not to any noticable fanfare, I recall). I remember seeing the CD in stores and trying to imagine what it sounded like based on the cover and song titles. So when I returned home one of the first things I did was pick up my brother’s copy and finally give ‘Up’ a listen.

The first two songs seemed to herald a new – more electronic – sound for REM. I initially disliked ‘Airportman’ but it did set up ‘Lotus’ really well… the rhythm, that burst of guitar, the different sounds in the mix. It was a real lift. I found I liked ‘Lotus’ almost instantly and haven’t tired of it. ‘Suspicion’ also delighted me. Maybe I was just happy to hear something different from what I’d been waking up to on the clock radio for all those months.

Maybe, Kirsten… but I was listening to the album up there in the northern hemisphere at the time!

However, I can confirm that it DOES sound good upside down too. When I returned “down under” to live in New Zealand I made sure I brought my CD collection with me… and wasted no time in buying something to play ’em with.

Surfing the Ganges? What a wonderfully absurd song. Is it just me, or are REM building up a head of steam coming out of yr 07. I thought Buck’s Q interview was quite revealing – very candid on the other band members tinkering with the last 3 records. Encouraging that he thinks LP14 was such a good recording experience. Agree with MP that 08 could be a big year for the band…

yeah, I agree with those that love this song. I love this song too. I think the guitar riff is, in the words of Rev. Al Green “butt kicking” not incredibly difficult, but incredibly catchy, kind of like the guitar solo of the One I Love.

I was in love with Up for a long, long time and that year (Sophomore year of high school) “Lotus” was my jam.I remember when I saw R.E.M. for the first time on the Up tour (9/11/99) and they opened with “Lotus” and it just jumped right out and pulled me in.

While I’m mentioning that show, the most iconic moment for me was when for the first encore Michael came out and sang the first verse of “Leave” a capella and the entire place was silent and transfixed.

I also paid for the new Radiohead. $7.77 plus a $0.25 fee my credit card charged me for “strange [foreign] currencies” (I know it was awful but it was unavoidable). The funny thing is that if it was a conventional CD release I probably would have just ripped it from a friend. They suckered me in.

The UP album was difficult for me to get to like, and actually, I think it sounds better musically now than it did then. But Lotus was one track I liked back then.

Also, since the Lotus single was mentioned. Back in like 1999, at a record store, I spotted a UK 3-track single import of Lotus, which includes “Lotus, Weird Mix”, and I had to get it. I couldn’t resist because I already liked the track, and I’ve always liked oddball remix versions of songs (like the old Radio Dub). I thought the “weird remix” was pretty good, and, as advertised, pretty odd. For those who haven’t heard it, the lead guitar is completely gone, the bass is all on the left channel, the drums on the right, the synths and vocal effects are center and mixed differently. It still has a good groove to it. And I think I actually like it better than the album version.

this is an absolutely brilliant song. it is obviously different from the other songs on “up”, much like a drop of blood in a mass of feathers. it’s mean, grinding, sexy and even reaches quite an impressive level of morbidity. all the sounds meshed into the mix are deliciously complementary for the sinister atmoshpere, especially the wailing sirens and weird bleeps at the intro and outro. the song grooves and swaggers, and the video is the perfect representation of the dark, abstract lyrics. also, the “weird mix” is possibly the scariest thing they’ve ever done – everything in that song is fucked up and distorted.

like you, scott, i love that particular guitar part, and especially how on the live versions it is accentuated by “pa pa papa” kind of vocals from mike. i have a 1999 recording of the song where michael grunt-breathes into the microphone before the start of the song, very chilling effect. mike also intermitently doubles the chorus lines (“happy to show us etc.), completely transforming the song into quite a new experience.

lissening to new radiohead. sad no bangers and mash. some good songs, some not so good ones. 6/10 for now. i wonder if they remember the song “palo alto”? that was a really good one. happy it was free…cant believe 7 yrs since kid a..

cool Jared , I watch AC 360 almost every night along with my new hero Lou “lambast the local bombast” Dobbs standing up for the rights of the American middle class …..God Bless The USA (and I am capable of saying that even without a flagpin on my lapel)

I am in a quandry. I am old school and generallt do not listen to songs released to internet before the album proper comes out so that I can still have the experience of that “first listen” when a group I like makes a release (whether digitally or hard copy). Of course, this requires great patience and discipline. However, I am very curious about this new song as I have not heard it. (Have not listened to any of the Dublin stuff for the above mentioned reason). Also, I am afraid I will have nothing to add here if I don’t give a listen. Oh, what to do!

mr. beethoven,
if you dl the new song, you will probably like it- it’s very good, however it will probably leave a good deal of what the rest of the new album sounds like a surprise. remember, like stipe sez in furry happy monsters, “we don’t have to be sad- e can be happy!”

Just heard Until the day is done on Anderson Cooper 360.
From what I heard, it sounded like something from the AFTP period. Kinda a bit Try not to breath, or Swan Swan H or King of birds. Sounded really good. Really happy REM contributed this song to Planet in peril.

I was in Dublin in July, best 2 nights ofmy entire life, I could’ve caught Michael’s spit I was so close to the band (Kirsten, I had to refrain myself!!) Until the day is done is/was the only real slow one of the new songs but does have a very melancholy, deep, “Drive” feel to it, but the rest are soooo rocky & VERY pre – Out of Time. Excited? You should be!

Sorry, meant to say, I like Lotus in a tongue-in-cheek, lightweight kind of way, doesn’t set my world alight but my Mum really enjoys it! Plus it’s a good one to guarantee a few moves from the Stipester!

I always kind of think a little bit that the song doesn’t quite fit on that album. I LOVE Up, but when I play it I want to hear the sad, uneasy, haunting tracks & Lotus sometimes feels like an invasion. Shock horror, I’m criticising. I have to skip the track & then play it right at the end to cheer me up.

I’ve been listening to ‘Until The Day Is Done’ on the Planet In Peril trailer on the CNN website and wanted to share my excitement about it.

I was pleasantly surprised on first listening to the final studio recording of this new song. I’m familiar with it from the Dublin Rehearsals and instantly liked it but always felt it could go two ways when it comes to recording it; either it could end up a bit weak (like I consider some of the songs on Around The Sun to be) or it could become an acoustic classic, sounding like it could easily belong on Automatic For The People. And, I have to say, it sounds more like the latter – like a modern day ‘Try Not To Breathe’ but with the bounce of ‘Daysleeper’.

The guitar sounds sharp and mixes beautifully with the minimal strings and Mike’s ever-impressive bass. Michael’s voice sounds raw in the mix – not lush or reverbed – but gutteral and real and, in this instance, works perfectly. I almost feel like this is how ‘Final Straw’ should have turned out.

Lotus is more up tempo, and bouncy, but the lyrics are anything but, probably some of the most haunting that the band has written ever.

Damn it, I didn’t want to listen to the new song, but I did.
And yeah, it did remind me a little of both try not to breathe and Swan Swan H and maybe a little bit of the original final straw, mainly because of the backing guitar and tempo. The melody is world class, me thinks.

The new song is good. I´m pleased as it seems a fairly accurate recreation of the versions of Until the Day is Done from Dublin – and not lost under a soup of overdubs, bleeps and synths. Lets hope the other songs retain their Dublin-like freshness. Its not surprising we think it sounds like Swan Swan H, try Not to Breathe, Daysleeper or Final Straw. These are the token REM songs (1 per record usually) in 3/4 time signatures, of which UtDiD is another. Sometimes its hard to create variety within that time signature but REM mostly do a good job with these and they are usually poignant and crisply executed tunes.

A small self-indulgent detail: I´m writing this from an internet cafe in Santiago, Chile. If you havent been here before, its a must. Blue skies, Andes in the background, great food, culture, people…

Samantha Brown was in Santiago the other night doing her Miss Perky travel channel thing . I swear she was sitting in the exact same cafe because that scene you describe, Dude, it was on my TV screen….Headed to Patagonia ? points beyond ? Tierra del Fuego ? isn’t it wierd how you can be perched at the bottom of the sphere and have no sense of being upside down ?

Blue skies, Andes in the background/perched at the bottom of the sphere and have no sense of being upside down/The Andes stretch as far as Utah now/Headed to Patagoni? Points beyond? Tierra del Fuego?/Sadly, didnt make it too far out of Santiago/Just to Valparaiso on the coast/Sounds like Salt Lake, where I live

Is it me or is this site drying up a little right now? Fair enough Matthew hasn’t posted a new review in nearly a week but that doesn’t usually halt the conversation.

In my opinion this is a very exciting time for an R.E.M. fan with the release of the ‘R.E.M. LIVE’ DVD and CD. Lets not forget also that it’s possibly 3-4 months before we can buy the new album and I’m sure tracks will leak on the internet before then. So….

does anybody know if the Stipeman is a smoker or not ? -heavy or otherwise– I know it’s sorta irrelevant but I am just really intrigued by (puzzled actually) the possibilty of that being the case judging by some stuff I’ve seen in print. Quite frankly , it seems hard to believe, like it runs against the grain of every thing about the guy…….but apparently…..

I’ve seen pictures of him smoking and certainly heard it mentioned in several interviews (he rolls his own). One interviewer asked him if he was worried about smoking damaging his voice. His reply? “I’ve been smoking longer than I’ve been singing”

Anyone got the new CD/DVD yet? I’ve ordered mine from REMHQ, so I won’t get it for a couple of weeks. Waiting anxiously for some reviews from real fans, not journalists. And for those who haven’t been checking, Scott M has been reviewing Drive XV one song at a time under the “Special Announcent” heading. Worth a read..

Kirsten , I can’t believe you did that !! A. It’s certainly NOT “worth a read” , and it wasn’t supposed to be like this !!!!! I’m embarrassed , just this little thing I was doing behind the scenes there sorta…Everything’s different now (as Aimee Man once sang)……..You ruined my little one man party, well I guess , there’s always my other one man party that I’m so expert at 🙂

can’t believe that Stipe smokes like that , have you ever tried singing The Great Beyond at the top of your lungs ?, certain parts of it –the loud parts— where it sounds to me like he’s not taking a breath…I know I can’t do it , well, not well anyway….

Went and saw Interpol last night. Great show, good crowd, great songs. They actually seemed to be having a good time too. One of the opening bands were called the Shout Out Louds and they were very good, sort of like the poppier side of the Cure without the Goth overtones. The other opener, Liars, were horrid!

And as far as smokers in bands, every member of Interpol except the guitarist lit up at some point during the show, even the lead singer! The bassist had 3 that I noticed. Sorta weird.

Just listening to Chris Isaac’s Wicked Game on the radio. REM’s version shits all over it! Where’s the pain, hurt and dispair? Where’s the feeling? Where’s the emotion? Michael Stipe is brilliant at conveying those feelings through his voice – one of the main reasons I love REM. And Peter’s guitar just cries….

BTWD
I really liked Turn on the Bright lights, I thought that was one of the best cds of that year. The follow up, I just couldn’t get into it, and I am ashamed to say, I have not had a chance to listen to the more recent one.

Kristen,
Thanks for giving me the heads up on Scott M. Now I have two blogs to read compulsively!

Scott M,
Still find it funny that we were at the same show a couple of years ago.

Clive,
I did not buy the live album today, but I am going to get it, I am a sucker. Got to keep my collection complete…

Hope all is well with everyone.
That’s about it for right now, time for a new one Matthew! Maybe another “lost track”

As a big fan and bootleg collector I have, occasionally, grown tired of what I’d describe as ‘uninspiring set lists’. I would describe the set list of R.E.M. LIVE as relatively standard with only a few additions that intrigued me – Cuyahoga, I’m Gonna DJ, Ascent Of Man etc. But with R.E.M. LIVE I can honestly say that every song was a welcome listen, probably because of the energy of the performance, the mixing of the track and the quality of the songs being performed. I do still feel that some of the Around The Sun songs don’t work too well live, for example Ascent Of Man and, to a lesser extent, Boy In The Well.
R.E.M. LIVE simply serves to remind me how much I love this band and only serves to make me even more excited about the new songs. I’m currently working on a cover of ‘Until The Day Is Done’ on my You Tube page, not only is it a gorgeous song to play on guitar (very much a Neil Young-style guitar song) but it gives me a strange satisfaction to be the first one to cover it!

Of course smoking damages your voice, but if you are a trained singer (which MJS had become during the past years) who otherwise takes care of his voice, it isn’t a problem. And hell: it’s rock & roll!

>>Of course smoking damages your voice, but if you are a trained singer (which MJS had become during the past years) who otherwise takes care of his voice, it isn’t a problem. And hell: it’s rock & roll!<<

Not until his throat needs to be removed to get rid of the cancer cells….